Friday, March 27, 2015

The third craft in our four-part Peeps series are these adorable birdhouses! Again, thanks to the people at Peeps for sending us so many items to use for Easter crafts! Who knew you could do so many crafts with candy?

For more great crafting ideas, Visit www.marshmallowpeeps.com, Follow Peeps on Instagram: @peepsbrand, Pinterest: @peepsbrand, Twitter:@peepsbrand, and Facebook: Peeps Brand. Don't forget to use the #PEEPSONALITY.

While the wonderful people at Peeps Brand and Just Born Quality Confections did provide me with the Peeps, all opinions and photos are my own.

Monday, March 23, 2015

The wonderful people at Peeps must know of our family's love for Peeps! They contacted me and asked if they sent me some samples, if I would be willing to come up with some Peeps crafts. I was so excited as Peeps are one of my favorite Easter candies. Want to know what my favorite thing to do with them is? Roast them over an open fire! If you haven't tried that, then you should! They are ahh-mazing!

The first Peeps craft the girls and I decided to make was a centerpiece for our kitchen table. We all agreed that we needed something springy since Spring and Easter are right around the corner. This was so simple to make and only took about 10 minutes.

You will need:

Glass bowl

Peeps

Robin Eggs

Artificial Daffodils (I'm sure you could use real also)

The girls each picked their favorite Peep to use in the centerpiece. Mel picked these eggs which just happen to be a new product this year!

B picked green bunnies...

and Jo thought the pink ones were perfect. Pink is her current favorite color!;)

Arrange the Peeps on the inside perimeter of the jar. I don't have any pictures of this step because it required both my hands! Once you have the Peeps in the bowl, then add the Robin Eggs.

Next, using wire cutters, carefully cut the Daffodils at the individual stem.

Then arrange in the Robin Eggs.

Mel was pretty proud of our creation...

I love how this turned out!

For other great ideas, visit www.marshmallowpeeps.com, follow Peeps on Facebook: peepsbrand, Instagram: @peepsbrand, Pinterest: @peepsbrand, and Twitter: @peepsbrand. Don't forget to use the #PEEPSONALITY

While Peeps and Just Born Products did provide me with the delicious and oh-so-cute Peeps, all photos and comments are my own.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Sloppy Joes are one of my favorite foods to make. They are super easy and you can switch up the recipe to make them taste a bit different each time you make them. So, when I saw this recipe in Gooseberry Patch's new cookbook, Mom Knows Best and saw that it combined sloppy joes and BACON, I knew I had to give it a whirl. We love bacon in our house! They weren't any more difficult to make and even our oldest loved them. She's kind of hard to please food-wise sometimes;) I changed some things up a bit...the original recipe calls for turkey and I used beef. It also called for pickle relish, but I used chopped green peppers instead.

Bacon Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

6 slicesbacon

1 poundhamburger

1/4 cupchopped green bell peppers

1/3 cupmayonnaise

1/4 cupketchup

1 Tablespoonmustard

2 teaspoonsWorcestershire sauce

6hamburger buns

6 slicesMonterey Jack Cheese

Cooking Directions

In a skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp;set bacon aside on a paper towel.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Ag Day is March 18th. It's a day set aside to celebrate all things Ag and everyone involved in Ag as we applaud them for all their hard work. Crystal at Mom for Less has a lesson planned for young kids to help them better understand the wonderful world of Ag. It's a little bit different than the Old McDonald version that the story books present.

Crystal and I wanted to highlight a day in the life of a farmer to honor all the farmers out there by getting the kids involved and hopefully they will ask some questions along the way. Now, each farmer has a different "schedule." Some have livestock and others don't. Some have crops and others don't, but they all have one thing in common: they work hard to provide food for the world! I put together this felt book for my 2 year old daughter Jo, with the help of my older daughters. While it was meant for Jo, the older two have enjoyed playing with it too.

First, print the farm printables. I have added the link to the clip art that I have provided, but you are welcome to make your own.

Then cut two rectangles from a cereal box and coat each side with glue...

Then add the desired felt color to each side of the box and trim off excess. Allow it to dry. Once dry, use scissors to add three holes on each rectangle. Make sure that the holes line up on each side.

Once you printed the clip art, cut them out and glue them to the desired felt color. Jo even got in on this part of the action;)..

Allow them to dry and then cut them out leaving a bit of a border...

Cut two pipe cleaners in half. You will have a half left over so just save it for another project ;)

Place the pipe cleaners in the holes of the rectangle to bind them together. Twist to secure.

Now, for the fun. The kids can start making all the different types of scenes. (Note: the black and white hay bale is supposed to be green. I had trouble finding hay...everything was yellow which is straw. Cattle lay on straw (yellow) and eat hay (green), so your little one will have to color it green.)

I also cut out some brown felt for dirt, green felt for grass, or a hay field, and white felt for snow.

Since we are a beef and crop farm, that is what I included for my book, but this project is so versatile that you can easily add pigs, chickens, whatever the kids want.

Here are some other examples of the farm scenes my kids created.

Planting while the sun shines...

Making hay while the sun shines...

The piece of equipment behind the tractor is called a round baler. Most of the hay or straw in picture books are square, but farmers also make round bales which are much larger.

All plants need water to grow!...

Harvest time!..

The wagon behind the green tractor is called a grain cart. The combine unloads the corn onto the grain cart and the grain cart takes it to the grain bin or semi truck.

And finally snow. Farmers don't quit working because of the snow or cold. In fact, their work probably doubles in this type of weather. The calves still have to eat. The farmers work hard 365 days a year to make sure the livestock have feed and water and fresh warm straw to lay on.

Don't forget to visit Crystal's blog for a fun lesson to go with this felt book! Remember Ag Day on March 18th!